Drama on Capitol Hill: Biden Agenda on the Brink

CLAY: Lots of breaking news happening as we speak. In fact, Joe Biden is addressing the nation. He literally just turned and walked away from his podium as we are beginning the show. We will be discussing everything that is going on right now in D.C. It is an incredibly newsworthy day that promises to get even more newsworthy.

Context here. We have got — and have had for a long time — the Biden congressional agenda has been moving in two parts. The infrastructure bill, some $1.2 trillion that has already been passed by the Senate. The House has been waiting to vote to pass the infrastructure bill as well. They have not done that because they want to find out what is going to be in the budget.

The progressives in the House in particular do not want to okay the infrastructure bill, and then have the budget reconciliation bill fall apart because Senator Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Sinema of Arizona are not willing to support expansive governmental spending like the progressive elements are. So we are dealing with a great deal of uncertainty that, in many ways, was reflected in the opening sentence from Joe Biden as he addressed the nation just in the last 30 minutes or so.

Listen to the open here from Joe Biden. Let’s play cut 27.

BIDEN: Today, I’m pleased to announce that after — after months of tough and thoughtful negotiations I think we have — I know we have — a historical economic framework.

CLAY: Okay. You just heard there opening sentence he says, “I think we have an historical … framework.” Biden put a deadline on today because he is leaving the country for six days now. And right now, we have a monstrous stare-down contest going on inside of the Democratic Party. And I’m gonna be following this story along the way and giving you updates minute by minute as this is, frankly, as dramatic of a day as we have had on Capitol Hill in some time.

Now, there are reports, and I’m going to read some of these quotes that have been reported. Nancy Pelosi reportedly told her members — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — “Don’t embarrass the president by voting down the infrastructure bill as he flies overseas.” She said she is going to bring the infrastructure bill on the floor today and hold the vote open for as long as she needs to in order to get the infrastructure bill through.

Okay? Why is that significant? Because Nancy Pelosi is finally admitting that she is going to have a challenge to get the infrastructure bill through, and she’s trying to call the bluff of the AOCs, of the Tlaibs, of all of The Squad members who are saying right now that they will not be willing to support infrastructure until the budget reconciliation bill is through.

Now, I’m gonna walk you through all of the crazy things that are going on right now and are gonna be put into this budget reconciliation bill. But this was a mess. President Biden went to Capitol Hill this morning in an effort to try to tell everybody, “Hey, we finally got a deal ready,” and the problem is this Democratic civil war between the moderates — and I would say the moderates in general are represented by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema and The Squad, the AOC and crew, which are in the House and are incredibly progressive.

And they are at loggerheads right now, and we’re not sure how this is gonna play out and whether Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, actually has the votes to pass the infrastructure bill or not or whether Biden could get humiliated and his own party on the day that he just addressed the nation and said he believes that they have a framework in place.

They could actually shut down his entire agenda. Not the Republicans. The Democratic Party itself. So this is interesting. It seems that Sinema and Manchin in the Senate are saying, “Hey, if you want us to agree to the budget reconciliation bill, then you need to go out and pass the infrastructure bill right now.” Biden said in his address, “No one got everything they wanted but that’s what compromise is all about.”

Well, we’ll see whether anybody actually has the ability to get those votes. Right now, Nancy Pelosi is meeting with the House progressives who are threatening to not pass the infrastructure bill, and Joe Manchin has said that everything is in the hands of the House. So this is chaotic. I’m trying to lay it out the best I can as news is breaking every single minute, basically, of what exactly is going on surrounding the Biden agenda.

Biden reportedly told everyone that this was the entirety of his agenda and that if this thing doesn’t pass, that his entire presidency is a mess. Well, his entire presidency is a mess anyway. But it sounds like Biden has been in a rush to try to get to an agreement. He put this artificial deadline in place of wanting to get this done before he left for his trip to Europe.

Now there’s a great deal of uncertainty about whether the votes are there that actually is going to be able to take place. All right. That’s all the background. My buddy Buck Sexton. You might be saying, “Well, what does Buck think about this?” I’d like to know too. Buck is sick. He got back, took a red eye from Vegas, and he texted me that he was in rough shape and that he hopes to be back tomorrow.

When, by the way, we’re gonna have former President Donald Trump on with us to talk about the fact, among many other things, that President Trump is headed to Game 4 of the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros, the World Series in Georgia. Gonna talk a little bit about that during the course of the show as well. But, Buck, we want him to get well.

Neither one of us miss days very often at all, as well as well know if you listen to this program. So Buck is really under the weather, not able to work today. He’s planning to be back tomorrow. He said he wants to be a hundred percent sure that he’s back with the president coming on tomorrow, and so he’s taking the day to try to get back healthy. So you can give Buck your best wishes to hope that he gets back and is really to roll.